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THE POLICE GAZETTE

Part 2: Issues for 1797-1810, 1828 & 1830-1840 from the State Library of New South Wales

"Since 1772, this periodical has contained detailed information relating to crime, criminals and police officers throughout England and Wales. It contains a wealth of information of interest to police and local historians and is a virtually untapped source."
Les Waters, Former Secretary of the Police History Society

The importance of The Police Gazette is in the thousands of detailed descriptions it gives of travelling criminals, absentees, deserters and escaped convicts, together with a plethora of information concerning their crimes.

It originated from the work of Sir John Fielding (d1780), and his half-brother, the novelist, Henry Fielding (1707-1754) in eighteenth century London. As well as serving as magistrates and presiding over the introduction of a small number of paid constables - the Bow Street Runners - they experimented in the apprehension of criminals through the use of public advertising and the circulation of details of offenders to other justices throughout the country.

In 1752, Henry Fielding used his own publication, The Covent Garden Journal, to invite victims of crimes to contact him with details of the crimes committed against them, properties stolen, and descriptions of the criminals involved. Advertisements were then placed in the journal, usually with a reward attached, for the recovery of the property and the apprehension of the criminals.

The advertisements proved to be a success and paved the way for a succession of journals specifically devoted to the description of criminals and offences. These range from Sir John’s Public Advertiser, to the Quarterly Pursuit and Weekly Pursuit, which were distributed to Mayors and Chief Magistrates far and wide. Shortly afterwards, Lord North persuaded George III that the journal deserved to be published on an official basis and there followed, in succession, the Public Hue and Cry, The Hue and Cry and Police Gazette and, finally, the Police Gazette. Approximately 150,000 copies were printed of each issue. The Metropolitan Police took over the publication from 1883, and from the same date illustrations start to appear in the text. The journal continues today.

Despite the large number of copies produced of the Police Gazette and its predecessors, no complete run exists anywhere in the world. The aim of this microfilm project is to assemble a 149 year run of the journal from 1752 through to 1900 by filming various scattered holdings.

Part 1 made available issues for 1866-1869, 1871-1878, 1882-1897 & 1899-1900 from the holdings of the Cambridgeshire Police Archive (covering 30 years, representing 20% of the total).

This second part, bringing together copies formerly addressed to the Colonial Secretary, now held at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, makes available issues for 1797-1810, 1828 & 1830-1840 (covering a further 26 years, representing 17% of the total). Importantly, it allows comparisons to be made between the types of crimes occurring in the 1790s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1840s and those of the 1860s, 1870s, 1880s & 1890s.

The reports will be of as much interest to scholars of literature, who can examine highway robbery in the age of Tom Jones and escapees from the Marshalsea prison in the age of Dickens, as to the social historian, who can use the volumes to examine aspects of class, criminality and material culture. This is a prime source for information on the transportation of convicts, and on deserters from the army, and also provides a clear indication of government fears concerning public disorder from the French Revolution onwards.

There are reports of footpads, highwaymen, smugglers, house-breakers, murderers, forgers, larcenists, arsonists, deserters and escaped convicts. Detailed descriptions are given of shops’ goods that have been looted, possessions taken from houses, clothes that have been taken from unfortunate travellers, and horses and cattle stolen from farmers. The thousands of particulars given build up a vivid picture of serious and petty crime in Hanoverian and Victorian Britain.

Notices proclaim new government initiatives to curtail the sale of "loose and licentious prints, books and publications" (3 Feb 1798), to suppress "Seditious and Treasonable Societies" (16 Nov 1799) and to enforce "a publick Day of Fasting and Humiliation ... in order to obtain Pardon of Our Sins and in the most devout and solemn manner send up Our Prayers and Supplications ... for the Restoration of Peace, and Prosperity to Us and Our Dominions." (7 Jan 1809).

This source will enrich our understanding of the perils of living and the nature of justice in eighteenth and nineteenth century Britain. Through it, we will better understand both the police and thos they policed.



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